The instant invention is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. Nos. 137,100 and 137,101, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,146, both filed on Dec. 23, 1987 and both being invented and filed by David W. Johnson, who is the inventor of the instant invention, and both of the devices of those patent applications, being a STRUCTURAL SUPPORT and an ENCLOSURE, respectively, being continuations-in-part of Ser. No. 848,573, filed Apr. 7, 1986, which issued into U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,503, issued Dec. 29, 1987, to David W. Johnson, for an INTERLOCKING JOINT WINE RACK.
The parent patent to the two prior cases, that is, the INTERLOCKING JOINT WINE RACK patent, described a lattice constructed of interlocking joints utilizing no fasteners or adhesives which was described as being generally applicable to a variety of different structures, but was specifically claimed as a wine rack.
Ser. No. 137,100 extrapolated the basic construction of the wine rack into a structural support such as a beam, girder, or post which is used not for its attractive appearance or its ability to hold objects, but for its strength, and more specifically for its high strength-to-weight ratio.
Ser. No. 137,101 modified the basic construction of the wine rack to form a box-shaped enclosure which has a variety of different product implementations.
The instant invention, the SUPPORT STAND, is yet another basic application of the same basic construction in which, rather than forming either a beam, a box, or a wine rack, a basic support stand is created, which is usefully formed into a variety of different products.
The peculiar nature of the lattice structure on which the prior three patents were based had its genesis in the joint, each of which joint is the same as each of the other joints. The joint is fabricated from six members, there being two contiguous members running in each of the three physical dimensions, with the result that a very rigid joint is produced which resists all twisting, turning and bending movements in all dimensions.
The great advantage of this joint lies not in the fact that its use saves fasteners and adhesives, but rather in the fact that it can be constructed out of identical elongated members which differ from one another only in the notches that are cut in them, there being three different configurations of the member at the joint area, one of which is full-notched, the second of which is both full-notched and half-notched, and the third of which has no notches at all.
Therefore, the construction naturally lends itself to the use of materials which may have great structural strength but which may be difficult, according to today's technology, to bond together to create structural members more complex than straight runs without sacrificing strength.
For example, the nature of steel is such that a weldment between two steel members, if performed correctly, is as strong as the metal itself. However, this is not true of aluminum, which can be welded but producing a satisfactory weldment is often very difficult. This is also not true of Nylon and many other forms of plastic which are quite tough and structurally strong, but must be used in their originally extruded shape, as a general rule, because more complex shapes achievable by bonding will partially lose the original strength advantage of the material because of the weakness of the bonding points. Whether this will be true in the future is, of course, not known as more adhesives are created and improved fabrication techniques are discovered, but it is certainly the case at this point in time.
Because of the nature of the joint construction of the support stand described in the instant invention, however, any material which may be formed by an extrusion and then subjected to the milling of notches, such as Nylon, aluminum, and just about any plastic, can be fabricated into a lattice of virtually any desired length, width and height dimension with any number of joints without requiring welding or bonding whatsoever. This is true also for other materials including wood.
For this reason, virtually any structural material that is reasonably light in weight can be assembled easily into support stands. Producing the slats with the appropriate notches for creating the stand can be done with relatively unskilled labor once basic jigs and tooling have been made, and assembling of the support stands can be done using unskilled labor with no special tools.